The Powow River Poets are a group of primarily New Formalist poets and translators founded in 1990 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The group has been led for most of that time by a Dominican-American poet, Rhina Espaillat

Rhina Espaillat

Rhina Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic in 1932 and has lived in the United States since 1939. She taught English in the New York City public schools for many years, and retired to Newburyport, Massachusetts, where for more than a decade she has led a group of New Formalist poets known...

. Many of its members have published books, and in recent years its membership has been awarded prizes associated with New Formalism

New Formalism

New Formalism is a late-20th and early 21st century movement in American poetry that has promoted a return to metrical and rhymed verse.-Origins and intentions:...

, particularly the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award

Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award

The Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award was established in 1994 by The Formalist, a poetry magazine founded by William Baer. The award honors the poet Howard Nemerov, who died in 1991. It is an open competition for sonnets in English that draws about 3000 entries annually. The award itself is $1000...

, the New Criterion Poetry Prize, and the Richard Wilbur Book Award. It sponsors workshops and a reading series at the Newburyport Art Association.

Members include David Berman, Michael Cantor, Bill Coyle, Robert W. Crawford, Midge Goldberg, A.M. Juster, Don Kimball, Len Krisak, Alfred Nicol, Stephen Scaer, Deborah Warren, and Richard Wollman. Ocean Press has recently published an anthology of work by 24 of these poets called The Powow River Poets (Ocean 2006).